An article in today's (UAE) 'Gulf News' is headlined "Cleric rules it is unlawful for woman to work as pilot". The article says the cleric has issued a fatwa "making it unlawful for any woman to work as a pilot". The cleric said this work would "require the woman to travel alone without a mahram (male guardian) accompanying her and this would lead to her mixing with men which is not acceptable."
Another real gem in the article, quoting the same cleric is "...women should never be allowed to work as pilots or air hostesses." ("what the captain really means is "Saudi muslim women should never etc ..."
Emirates had their first local female cadet aroumd twelve years ago. Unfortunately, she did not complete her training in Scotland.
She had worked as an (trainee?) ATCO in Dubai before starting her flying training. I don't know why she failed, but a combination of being a lone UAE female among the other UAE males on course combined with going from sunny Dubai to Scotland in winter might have had something to do with it.
I have heard that she is now married to an Emirates (National) pilot.
IMHO, (and despite strong resistance from quite a few of the Emarati [and some expat?] pilots), I believe it is only a matter of time before EK takes on female pilots, not for any reason of gender equality, but purely from necessity. Simply put, the number of pilots required will demand it as more and more of EK's "traditional" recruits stay away in droves thanks to current ever-changing personnel policies.
On the other hand, the ladies might vote (not) with their feet as well.